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October 9, 2009

CB Bucknor: "Safe"

Howie Kendrick in the 6th.

It was already 3-0 at this point, so it likely had no effect on the final outcome, but you cannot say that about the blown call at first with Kendrick in the third. If Mathis leads off the fifth rather than ending the fourth, maybe Hunter doesn't go deep.

Or maybe LAA wins 12-4. Who knows? ... And that's the point. I'd like this series to be decided on the actual events on the field. The embarrassing performance of this crew last night does not bode well for rest of the games.

He was in great position on all the plays. ... It didn't appear that any of them were real routine plays, either. Those were all tough plays. They were all bang-bang plays. ... Well, I had my impression. And you see them, you're going to have yours.

West said this after saying he watched the replays.

Bucknor was voted Worst Umpire In Baseball in SI players polls in both 2003 and 2006. He ran away with the award both years. ... And he will be behind the plate tonight.

Both those blown calls last night were pathetic. I usually like Joe West, but I don't see how he could have watched the replay and said either of those plays were up for interpretation. They were no doubters.

I'm not terribly happy to hear that CB's behind the plate tonight... I'm leaving for Angels Stadium in 30 minutes, making the 5+ hour drive from Phoenix to Anaheim for the game. 2nd row, third deck! CB better not blow it again...

I never said they were (but I don't think you were accusing me of that anyway). Also last night, I noted that the Angels got hosed a bit too.

I am not blaming the umps for the loss. I said right up front that I have no way of knowing if anything would have changed. Maybe we win 7-6, maybe we lose 13-0. "Who knows?"

A borderline strike call is one thing; calling a guy safe who was out by three steps is another. All I want is for the umps to be good and not blow obvious calls so the game can be decided by what the players actually do.

I hate it when announcers say, if a double follows a caught stealing, that too bad for that team, because the run would have scored. Not necessarily. The entire pitch sequence and pitcher/batter reaction would have been different.